Kendall Blanton managed to shed the “raw” label — great athlete, but unpolished as a football player — last season.
Blanton (6-6, 268), a junior tight end from Blue Springs South High, arrived at Missouri in 2014 as a freakish athletic presence.
He’d set a state boys’ basketball record for blocked shots as a two-sport prep star with the Jaguars — “He always reminds me,” said roommate Paul Adams, the Tigers’ junior starting right tackle — but Blanton needed time to develop as a football prospect.
Blanton didn’t see the field for two seasons, including a redshirt campaign, but he proved his value with 16 catches for 161 yards and three touchdowns in 2016.